Just when you thought the folks at MSNBC couldn't go any lower in defending the current White House resident, someone there stoops to new depths.

On the Martin Bashir show Wednesday, the host actually said that Republicans are using the acronym "IRS" as the latest dog whistle in their "war against the black man in the White House" (video follows with fuller transcribed highlights and commentary):

After playing a clip of Mitt Romney making a joke about his birth certificate, Bashir said, “That was the moment that proved that the rhetoric of racist insults and slanderous attacks on the President had moved from the lunatic fringe to the very center of presidential politics.”

Bashir then pointed to a number of books about the president from conservatives including David Limbaugh and Dinesh D’Souza.

“All of these books played an important role in preparing the groundwork that eventually allowed a presidential candidate to make a racist comment, in front of the cameras, without any fear of contradiction,” said Bashir.

“And now,” he continued, “the IRS is being used in exactly the same way as they tried to use the President’s birth certificate.”

“You see, for Republicans like Darrell Issa – who knows something about arson – the IRS now stands for something inflammatory. Those three letters are now on fire with political corruption and malfeasance burning hot just like that suspicious fire that engulfed Mr. Issa’s warehouse back in 1982. And, despite the complete lack of any evidence linking the President to the targeting of Tea Party groups, Republicans are using it as their latest weapon in the war against the black man in the White House.”

Numerous clips when then played of various Republicans addressing the IRS scandal. When they concluded, Bashir said, “This strategy is nothing new, and it was explained way back in 1981 by Lee Atwater who was Bush 41’s chief strategist”

I guess Bashir is too clueless to know that Reagan was president in 1981 and that Bush 41 didn’t become president until 1989.

Regardless, he then said, “In a tape recording, Mr. Atwater revealed how Republicans evolve their language to achieve the same purpose. He said:

“You start out in 1954 by saying n*****, n*****, n*****. By 1968 you can’t say n*****. That hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like ‘forced busing,’ ‘states rights’ and all that stuff and you’re getting so abstract. Now you’re talking about cutting taxes. ‘We want to cut this’ is much more abstract than even the busing thing and a-hell of a lot more abstract than n*****, n*****.”

“So this afternoon,” Bashir continued, “we welcome the latest phrase in the lexicon of Republican attacks on this president – the IRS. Three letters that sound so innocent, but we know what you mean.”